Abstract
Peridroma saucia (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a polyphagous pest that attacks nearly all vegetable fields in Turkey. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are successfully used as a biological control agent. The efficacy of four EPNs, Steinernema carpocapsae, S. feltia, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and H. indica against the last instar larvae of the pest, was tested under laboratory conditions. Suspensions of nematodes were applied at four concentrations (10, 50, 100 and 200 infective juveniles/larva) at 25 ± 1 °C. Mortality percent was evaluated 48 and 96 h post application. Mortality rate increased with increasing concentrations. The highest effect caused 70% mortality by H. bacteriophora and H. indica species after 48 h exposure time and the lowest mortality was 33% for Steinernema carpocapsae. There was no significant difference between virulence of Heterohabditis spp. and Steinernema spp. when tested against the larvae of P. saucia after 96 h exposure time. These results showed that EPNs have a significant potential in the biological control of P. saucia under controlled conditions.
Highlights
The variegated cutworm (VCW), Peridroma saucia (Hubner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a common polyphagous pest of many vegetable and field crops and found in many areas of the world (Rings et al, 1976 and Klein Koch and Waterhouse, 2000)
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of four Turkish species of Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) for the biological control of the variegated cutworm (VCW), P. saucia, under laboratory conditions
The virulence of four indigenous nematode species against last larval instar of P. saucia was evaluated in a laboratory experiment
Summary
The variegated cutworm (VCW), Peridroma saucia (Hubner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a common polyphagous pest of many vegetable and field crops and found in many areas of the world (Rings et al, 1976 and Klein Koch and Waterhouse, 2000). VCW was first recorded in Europe in 1790 and caused serious outbreaks in many countries throughout the Americas in 1841 (Capinera et al, 1988) The adults of these cutworms were discovered in 1967 in Turkey. VCW larvae do much damage to crops and cause considerable mortality to seedlings in the early growing season by cutting off the plant at the soil surface and feeding on the Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are highly effective biological control agents against many agricultural pests soil-inhabiting lepidopterous larvae because of their presence in larval stages below ground (Vashisth et al, 2013). EPNs have searching ability on hosts and the potential to survive in the soil environment They possess free-living third-stage infective juvenile (IJ) that can survive a long time without feeding (Koppenhöfer et al, 2000). Once they enter to haemocoel, the mutualistic bacteria Xenorhabdus in Steinernema and Photorhabdus in Heterorhabditis are released to kill the host within 2 days (Gaugler, 2002; Griffin, et al, 2005; Kaya et al, 2006)
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